Website:

www.brussels.irisnet.be/

 

English

 

is the capital of Belgium and hosts the headquarters of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main center for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status. Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

 

Português

 

A Região de Bruxelas-Capital é uma das três regiões que compõem a Bélgica - ao lado da Valônia e de Flandres . Dispõe dum território relativamente pequeno (161 km²), inteiramente urbanizado. Tem mais de um milhão de habitantes.

Esta cidade-região oficialmente bilingüe é habitada por uma maioria de belgas francófonos. 85 a 90% dos habitantes falam francês, enquanto 33% falam outras línguas. Os belgas flamengos representam de 10 a 15% da população e falam neerlandês.

A região compõe-se de 19 comunas autónomas, comparáveis em número de habitantes aos 20 arrondissements parisienses mas sem um burgomestre "comum" ao conjunto.

Devido à presença no seu território de numerosas instituições internacionais, concentra um importante contingente de habitantes originários dos outros Estados-Membros da União Europeia. A estes acrescentam-se comunidades de migrantes originários não apenas das antigas colónias belgas (República Democrática do Congo (RDC), Ruanda e Burundi, da África subsariana) mas também do Magrebe (nomeadamente de Marrocos), da Turquia, da América, da Ásia (Irão, Paquistão...), fazendo da Região um conjunto cosmopolita e multi-étnico. Os imigrantes que não sejam já francófonos procuram geralmente aprender o francês aquando da instalação a fim de se integrarem o melhor possível na sociedade bruxelense.

 

Website:

www.brussels.irisnet.be/

 

English

 

is the capital of Belgium and hosts the headquarters of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main center for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status. Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

 

Português

 

A Região de Bruxelas-Capital é uma das três regiões que compõem a Bélgica - ao lado da Valônia e de Flandres . Dispõe dum território relativamente pequeno (161 km²), inteiramente urbanizado. Tem mais de um milhão de habitantes.

Esta cidade-região oficialmente bilingüe é habitada por uma maioria de belgas francófonos. 85 a 90% dos habitantes falam francês, enquanto 33% falam outras línguas. Os belgas flamengos representam de 10 a 15% da população e falam neerlandês.

A região compõe-se de 19 comunas autónomas, comparáveis em número de habitantes aos 20 arrondissements parisienses mas sem um burgomestre "comum" ao conjunto.

Devido à presença no seu território de numerosas instituições internacionais, concentra um importante contingente de habitantes originários dos outros Estados-Membros da União Europeia. A estes acrescentam-se comunidades de migrantes originários não apenas das antigas colónias belgas (República Democrática do Congo (RDC), Ruanda e Burundi, da África subsariana) mas também do Magrebe (nomeadamente de Marrocos), da Turquia, da América, da Ásia (Irão, Paquistão...), fazendo da Região um conjunto cosmopolita e multi-étnico. Os imigrantes que não sejam já francófonos procuram geralmente aprender o francês aquando da instalação a fim de se integrarem o melhor possível na sociedade bruxelense.

 

Ardrie Park Children's Christmas Carols 2013, City of Stonnington

Guildhalls on the Grand Place.

The Grand Place (French, pronounced: [ɡʁɑ̃ plas]; also used in English) or Grote Markt listen (help·info) (Dutch) is the central square of Brussels. It is surrounded by guildhalls, the city's Town Hall, and the Breadhouse (French: Maison du Roi, Dutch: Broodhuis). The square is the most important tourist destination and most memorable landmark in Brussels, along with the Atomium and Manneken Pis. It measures 68 by 110 metres (223 by 360 ft), and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[1]

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏsəl] ( listen)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region[1][2] (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital of Belgium and of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium,[8][9] comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.[10]

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants.[11] The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.[6][7]

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main center for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions[12] as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.[13]

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status.[14] Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

IMG_1617

Ardrie Park Children's Christmas Carols 2013, City of Stonnington

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced Nl-Brussel.ogg [ˈbrʏsəl] (help·info)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region[1][2] (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: About this sound Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU) and the largest urban area in Belgium.[8][9] It comprises 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels proper, which is the constitutional capital of Belgium, the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.[10]

 

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants.[11] The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.[6][7]

 

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Its hosting of principal EU institutions[12] as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has made the city a polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.[13]

 

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status.[14] Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of much controversy in Belgium.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels

George Mason University Japanese Students performing "The Magic Fan" at the 2009 Polyglot Performances. Harris Theatre, April 6, 2009.

Ardrie Park Children's Christmas Carols 2013, City of Stonnington

Beautiful chinese business woman and workers team.Learn a new language with Polyglot-language-academy.com group language study sessions! Our experienced teachers provide a fun and interactive learning environment that will help you master the language of your choice.

 

www.polyglot-language-academy.com/group-lessons/

Hippolais polyglotta

Ardrie Park Children's Christmas Carols 2013, City of Stonnington

On December 13th, 2012, our Polyglots In Bangkok MeetUp took place at the

Bourbon Street Restaurant on Sukhumvit Soi 63 (Soi Ekamai). This is a

monthly group and all linguaphiles are welcome. We speak Arabic, Chinese,

Esperanto, Dutch, Khmer, Danish, Tamil, French, German, Hindi, Korean,

Malay, Portuguese, Indonesian, Tagalog, Greek, Swedish, Russian, Spanish,

Thai, Sinhala, Telugu and Vietnamese so far...

 

Find us on the web:

MeetUp: www.meetup.com/Polyglots-in-Bangkok

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Polyglots-in-Bangkok/117685258296845

Twitter: twitter.com/PolyglotsInBKK

Language Exchange and Conversation Table by Erasmus of Paris

© Erasmus of Paris

www.erasmusofparis.fr

Ardrie Park Children's Christmas Carols 2013, City of Stonnington

From the 2012 Lincoln Center Out of Doors Family Day performance of Tangle by Polyglot Theatre.

Mockingbird, Northern (Mimus polyglots). Joe Martines Road Trail, Heritage Ranch, June 7, 2017

Language Exchange and Conversation Table by Erasmus of Paris

© Erasmus of Paris

www.erasmusofparis.fr

Polyglot Gathering

Website:

www.brussels.irisnet.be/

 

English

 

is the capital of Belgium and hosts the headquarters of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main center for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status. Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

 

Português

 

A Região de Bruxelas-Capital é uma das três regiões que compõem a Bélgica - ao lado da Valônia e de Flandres . Dispõe dum território relativamente pequeno (161 km²), inteiramente urbanizado. Tem mais de um milhão de habitantes.

Esta cidade-região oficialmente bilingüe é habitada por uma maioria de belgas francófonos. 85 a 90% dos habitantes falam francês, enquanto 33% falam outras línguas. Os belgas flamengos representam de 10 a 15% da população e falam neerlandês.

A região compõe-se de 19 comunas autónomas, comparáveis em número de habitantes aos 20 arrondissements parisienses mas sem um burgomestre "comum" ao conjunto.

Devido à presença no seu território de numerosas instituições internacionais, concentra um importante contingente de habitantes originários dos outros Estados-Membros da União Europeia. A estes acrescentam-se comunidades de migrantes originários não apenas das antigas colónias belgas (República Democrática do Congo (RDC), Ruanda e Burundi, da África subsariana) mas também do Magrebe (nomeadamente de Marrocos), da Turquia, da América, da Ásia (Irão, Paquistão...), fazendo da Região um conjunto cosmopolita e multi-étnico. Os imigrantes que não sejam já francófonos procuram geralmente aprender o francês aquando da instalação a fim de se integrarem o melhor possível na sociedade bruxelense.

 

youtu.be/baTfyiHX-70All of the words from Duolingo's French tree. Verbs are only given in the infinitive and adjectives in the masculine singular. Basics 1 Common Phrases Food Animals Plurals Clothing Colors Possessives Verbs: Present 1 Conjunctions 1 Questions Verbs: Present 2 Adjectives 2 Pronouns Prepositions Numbers Family Dates and Time Verbs: Infinitive Adverbs Occupations Negatives Household Objects Places People Directions Feelings Voice: French View/Download The Transcripts for this video here:➤➤ ouo.io/0oxVea8 ----------------------- Subscribe: bit.ly/2PmIoxE ----------------------- DONATE :➤ goo.gl/FgGq9I SUGGESTIONS? :➤ ouo.io/gac62 Website:➤ ouo.io/WhjUh9 Store :➤ ouo.io/C788cf Wordpress :➤ ouo.io/HtvQwA Make Money by Selling Online :➤ ouo.io/9OQtZ1 Link Shorter : ➤ ouo.io/xmWCyV Playlist :➤ ouo.io/l5Q3JK Facebook :➤https://ouo.io/gh3wYkF Twitter :➤ ouo.io/ea0RRR Instagram :➤ ouo.io/tXK6Ucw #LearnFrench #LearningFrench #LearnIFrenchWords

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced Nl-Brussel.ogg [ˈbrʏsəl] (help·info)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region[1][2] (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: About this sound Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU) and the largest urban area in Belgium.[8][9] It comprises 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels proper, which is the constitutional capital of Belgium, the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.[10]

 

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants.[11] The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.[6][7]

 

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Its hosting of principal EU institutions[12] as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has made the city a polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.[13]

 

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status.[14] Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of much controversy in Belgium.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels

...St Polyglot's.

Europe Trip 2010 - Day 11

January 03, 2011

 

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏsəl] ( listen)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region[1][2] (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital of Belgium and of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium,[8][9] comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.[10]

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants.[11] The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.[6][7]

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions[12] as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.[13]

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status.[14] Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

Hippolais polyglotta

Le petit oiseau pousse son chant.

Heading South drinks at the Chauvel, December 4th 2006.

Photo by Hamilton Churton. All rights reserved.

This guy was at a station in the middle of the maze adding music and sound effects to the experience. It's a good thing they gave him an umbrella- it was a hot, sunny day.

 

Polyglot Theatre's "Sticky Maze" @ Fremantle Coffee Festival 2011.

Fremantle, Western Australia.

www.absolut.com/en/iaaw/vision/absolutely-finished

GLOT is an entrepreneur NGO that bet on languages as a mean of social change, it was found in Medellín-Colombia by Diana Suárez, Lina Restrepo and other partners that have had the opportunity to learn several languages (polyGLOTs), now it's our time to give back. That is why GRATITUDE is the word for the people who believe in our work and volunteer its time or make a donation, thanks to them we can bring about opportunities for personal growth through native and foreign language skill development at the community-based level and also opportunities for local NGO’s that has language barriers to apply to international cooperation funds. As TPP, they believe in our commitment to a better world and especially we all share a common and powerful language: LOVE.

 

This talk gives an introduction to our open PaaS+ Cloud Platform for modular OSGi applications based on OpenShift.

 

Extending OpenShift by an OSGi service framework results in a modular and scalable Java PaaS (Platform as a Service) that features a modular build and deployment mechanism and helps to speed up application development while also making it more robust. The platform comes with a build in Apache Karaf server runtime enhanced by OSGi enabled base services such as Authentication, Rules Engine, Business Process Engine, Polyglot Persistence, Search and Indexing and an integrated OBR.

Birmingham Oratory 2-27-2012

Website:

www.brussels.irisnet.be/

 

English

 

is the capital of Belgium and hosts the headquarters of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants. The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main center for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status. Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

 

Português

 

A Região de Bruxelas-Capital é uma das três regiões que compõem a Bélgica - ao lado da Valônia e de Flandres . Dispõe dum território relativamente pequeno (161 km²), inteiramente urbanizado. Tem mais de um milhão de habitantes.

Esta cidade-região oficialmente bilingüe é habitada por uma maioria de belgas francófonos. 85 a 90% dos habitantes falam francês, enquanto 33% falam outras línguas. Os belgas flamengos representam de 10 a 15% da população e falam neerlandês.

A região compõe-se de 19 comunas autónomas, comparáveis em número de habitantes aos 20 arrondissements parisienses mas sem um burgomestre "comum" ao conjunto.

Devido à presença no seu território de numerosas instituições internacionais, concentra um importante contingente de habitantes originários dos outros Estados-Membros da União Europeia. A estes acrescentam-se comunidades de migrantes originários não apenas das antigas colónias belgas (República Democrática do Congo (RDC), Ruanda e Burundi, da África subsariana) mas também do Magrebe (nomeadamente de Marrocos), da Turquia, da América, da Ásia (Irão, Paquistão...), fazendo da Região um conjunto cosmopolita e multi-étnico. Os imigrantes que não sejam já francófonos procuram geralmente aprender o francês aquando da instalação a fim de se integrarem o melhor possível na sociedade bruxelense.

 

081124 {yymmdd}

The Postcard

 

An Art Colour Series postcard that was published by Valentine & Sons Ltd. of Dundee and London. The image is taken from an original watercolour by Brian Gerald.

 

The card was posted in Rothesay using a 2d. stamp on Friday the 27th. May 1949. It was sent to:

 

Mrs. Anthony Rogers,

30, Thurloe Street,

South Kensington,

London SW7.

 

The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:

 

"Glen & I have just

enjoyed a lovely sail

down the Clyde.

Looking forward to

seeing you on

Saturday,

Love,

M."

 

Gerhart Eisler

 

So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?

 

Well, on the 27th. May 1949, Gerhart Eisler was set free by a British magistrate who ruled that the US offence with which he was charged was not extraditable.

 

Gerhart Eisler (20th. February 1897 – 21st. March 1968) was a German politician, editor and journalist.

 

Along with his sister Ruth Fischer, he was a very early member of the Austrian German Communist Party, and then a prominent member of the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic.

 

Jo Ann Harris

 

The day also marked the birth in Los Angeles of Jo Ann Harris.

 

Jo Ann Harris, who was born Jo Ann Marcovitch, is an American actress known for her many film and television roles beginning in 1967.

 

In the 1971 film The Beguiled, she portrayed a 17-year-old who seduced Clint Eastwood's character.

 

Her other films include Maryjane (1968), The Gay Deceivers (1969), The Sporting Club (1971), The Parallax View (1974), Act of Vengeance (1974), Cruise into Terror (1978), and Deadly Games (1982).

 

Jo Ann's voice acting work includes the voice of Tina in the 1973 Hanna-Barbera animated series Goober and the Ghost Chasers, the animated film Oliver & Company (1988), and various episodic characters in The Simpsons.

 

Jo Ann was married for many years to television and film writer/producer Jerry Belson. They had two children together, Julie and Willi. Harris was widowed when Belson died in 2006.

 

Robert Ripley and Believe it or Not!

 

The 27th. May 1949 also marked the death at the age of 58 of Robert Ripley.

 

Robert Ripley was an American cartoonist, entrepreneur, and amateur anthropologist, who is known for creating the Ripley's Believe It or Not! newspaper panel series, television show, and radio show, which feature odd facts from around the world.

 

Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text ranged from sports feats to little-known facts about unusual and exotic sites.

 

He also included items submitted by readers, who supplied photographs of a wide variety of small-town American trivia ranging from unusually shaped vegetables to oddly marked domestic animals, all documented by photographs and then depicted by his drawings.

 

-- Robert Ripley - The Early Years

 

LeRoy Robert Ripley was born on the 22nd. February 1890, in Santa Rosa, California, although his exact birthdate is disputed.

 

He dropped out of high school after his father's death in order to help his family, and at age 16, he began working as a sports cartoonist for various newspapers.

 

In 1913, he moved to New York City. While drawing cartoons for The New York Globe newspaper, he created his first "Believe It or Not!" cartoon, published in the 19th. December 1918, issue. With a positive response from readers, the cartoon began appearing weekly.

 

In 1919, Ripley married fourteen-year-old film actress Beatrice Roberts, a child 15 years his junior. ​They divorced in 1926.​

 

Robert made his first trip around the world in 1922, publishing his travel journal in the newspapers.

 

Ripley became fascinated with unusual and exotic foreign locales and cultures. Because he took the veracity of his claims quite seriously, in 1923, he hired a researcher and polyglot named Norbert Pearlroth as a full-time assistant.

 

In 1926, Ripley's cartoons moved from the New York Globe to the New York Post.

 

Throughout the 1920's, Robert continued to broaden the scope of his work, and his popularity increased greatly. He published a guide to the game of American handball in 1925. In 1926, he became the New York State handball champion, and also wrote a book on boxing.

 

With a proven track record as a versatile writer and artist, he attracted the attention of publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst. In 1929, Hearst was responsible for Believe It or Not! making its syndicated debut in 360 newspapers and 17 languages worldwide.

 

With the success of this series assured, Ripley capitalized on his fame by getting the first book collection of his newspaper panel series published.

 

-- Robert Ripley - The Later Years

 

On the 3rd. November 1929, he drew a panel in his syndicated cartoon saying:

 

"Believe It or Not, America

has no national anthem."

 

Despite the widespread belief that "The Star-Spangled Banner", with its lyrics by Francis Scott Key set to the music of the English drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven", was the United States national anthem, Congress had never officially made it so.

 

In 1931, John Philip Sousa published his opinion in favor of giving the song official status, stating:

 

"It is the spirit of the music that

inspires, as much as it is Key's

soul-stirring words."

 

By a law signed on the 3rd. March 1931 by President Herbert Hoover, "The Star-Spangled Banner" was adopted as the national anthem of the United States.

 

Ripley prospered during the Great Depression, netting $500,000 a year by the end of the 1930's.

 

He employed a large staff of researchers, artists, translators, and secretaries to handle a deluge of suggestions for new oddities to report – and he traveled the world in search of curiosities.

 

Funding for Robert's highly publicized global travels were provided by the Hearst organization.

 

Always in search of the bizarre, he recorded live radio shows underwater and from the sky, the Carlsbad Caverns, the bottom of the Grand Canyon, snake pits, and other exotic locales.

 

The next year, he hosted the first of a series of two dozen Believe It or Not! theatrical short films for Warner Bros. and Vitaphone, and published a second collected volume of Believe it or Not! panels.

 

Ripley also appeared in a Vitaphone musical short, Seasons Greetings (1931).

 

After a trip to Asia in 1932, he opened his first museum, the Odditorium, in Chicago in 1933. The concept was a success, and at one point, Odditoriums were in San Diego, Dallas, Cleveland, San Francisco, and New York City.

 

At this point in his life, Robert Ripley had been voted the most popular man in America by The New York Times, and Dartmouth College awarded him an honorary degree.

 

World travel became impossible during World War II, so Ripley concentrated on promoting charities.

 

-- Robert Ripley on TV

 

In 1948, the year of the 20th. anniversary of the Believe it or Not! cartoon series, the Believe it or Not! radio show drew to a close and was replaced with a Believe it or Not! television series.

 

This was a bold move on Ripley's part, given the small number of Americans with access to television at this early time in the medium's development. He completed only 13 episodes of the series before he became incapacitated by severe health problems.

 

-- Robert Ripley's Cartoon Series

 

Ripley's cartoon series was estimated to have 80 million readers worldwide, and he is said to have received more mail than the President of the United States.

 

He became a wealthy man, with homes in New York and Florida, but he always retained close ties to his home town of Santa Rosa, California.

 

He made a point of bringing attention to the Church of One Tree, a church built entirely from the wood of a single 300-ft (91.4-m)-tall redwood tree, which stands on the north side of Juilliard Park in downtown Santa Rosa.

 

-- Robert Ripley's Associates

 

Ripley claimed to be able to prove every statement he made because he worked with professional fact researcher Norbert Pearlroth, who assembled Believe it or Not!'s array of odd facts, and also verified the small-town claims submitted by readers.

 

Pearlroth spent 52 years as the feature's researcher, finding and verifying unusual facts for Ripley, and after Ripley's death, for the syndicate editors who took over management of the Believe it or Not! panel.

 

Another employee who edited the newspaper cartoon series over the years was Lester Byck. Others who drew the series after Ripley's death include Art Slogg, Clem Gretter (1941 – 1949), Paul Frehm (1938 – 1975), who became the panel's full-time artist in 1949, and his brother Walter Frehm (1948 – 1989).

 

-- The Death and Legacy of Robert Ripley

 

On the 27th. May 1949, at the age of 59, Robert died from a heart attack in New York City.

 

He was laid to rest in his home town of Santa Rosa in the Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery.

 

Ripley's ideas and legacy live on in Ripley Entertainment, a company bearing his name and owned since 1985 by the Jim Pattison Group, a privately held company based in Canada.

 

Ripley Entertainment airs national television shows, features publications of oddities, and has holdings in a variety of public attractions.

 

These include Ripley's Aquarium, Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museums, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, Ripley's Mini-Golf and Arcade, Ripley's Moving Theater, Ripley's Sightseeing Trains, Guinness World Records Attractions, and Louis Tussaud's Wax Museums.

Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos )

Brussels, officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region, is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium, comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne to a sizeable city. The city has a population of 1.1 million and a metropolitan area with a population of over 1.8 million, both of them the largest in Belgium. Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.

Europe Trip 2010 - Day 11

January 03, 2011

 

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏsəl] ( listen)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region[1][2] (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital of Belgium and of the European Union (EU). It is also the largest urban area in Belgium,[8][9] comprising 19 municipalities, including the municipality of the City of Brussels, which is the de jure capital of Belgium, in addition to the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.[10]

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants.[11] The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.[6][7]

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Hosting principal EU institutions[12] as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city has become the polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.[13]

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status.[14] Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of considerable controversy in Belgium.

Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ( listen); Dutch: Brussel, pronounced Nl-Brussel.ogg [ˈbrʏsəl] (help·info)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region[1][2] (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: About this sound Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU) and the largest urban area in Belgium.[8][9] It comprises 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels proper, which is the constitutional capital of Belgium, the seat of the French Community of Belgium and of the Flemish Community.[10]

 

Brussels has grown from a 10th-century fortress town founded by a descendant of Charlemagne into a metropolis of more than one million inhabitants.[11] The metropolitan area has a population of over 1.8 million, making it the largest in Belgium.[6][7]

 

Since the end of the Second World War, Brussels has been a main centre for international politics. Its hosting of principal EU institutions[12] as well as the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has made the city a polyglot home of numerous international organisations, politicians, diplomats and civil servants.[13]

 

Although historically Dutch-speaking, Brussels became increasingly French-speaking over the 19th and 20th centuries. Today a majority of inhabitants are native French-speakers, and both languages have official status.[14] Linguistic tensions remain, and the language laws of the municipalities surrounding Brussels are an issue of much controversy in Belgium.

 

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels